This
fascinating and generously filled CD offers a mixed bag
of Stokowski studio recordings all of which are of great
interest.

I’ve
been impressed with Stoki’s Vaughan Williams performances
both on Cala and BBC Legends and so I was more than a little
intrigued to hear his account of the Tallis Fantasia. It
starts off with some very sweet, intense string chords.
Then I was a little surprised and disappointed that the
pizzicato first appearance of the theme is given out pretty
straightforwardly, with little sense of mystery. Though
the opening pages struck me as being rather fleet, as the
performance unfolded the pacing seemed more “conventional” and
when I checked I found that Stokowski’s overall timing
of 16:03 is not significantly shorter than that of the
classic Barbirolli 1963 recording, for long my personal
benchmark in this piece. Barbirolli takes 16:13 and even
the more sober Boult (EMI 1975) only clocks in at 16:30.
What I found a bit more difficult to take was Stokowski’s
very emphatic treatment of some accented chords. It’s all
of a piece with his passionate, very colourful approach
to the work. You won’t find any misty-eyed nostalgia here.
Instead, Stokowski sees the work as a rich and pretty romantic
outpouring. He draws some tremendous playing from the orchestra
(the splendid quartet includes Leonard Rose, no less, as
cellist) and for its age the recording is marvellously
full-toned with a very sonorous bass line at times. I wouldn’t
regard this as a reading for “everyday” but it’s a marvellously
individual alternative view. And by the way that’s not
a coded way of accusing Stokowski of showmanship. It’s
evident in every bar that he believes in and loves the
piece.

It
wouldn’t be inaccurate to describe the RVW as ‘colourful’ in
Stoki’s hands. How much more does that adjective apply
to his account of Ibert’s Escales. This is, in every
sense, an orchestral showpiece, a riot of colourful and
illustrative orchestration and I freely confess I haven’t
heard a more persuasive and exuberant recording of it than
this one. In fact, the piece could have been written for
Stokowski; the colour and the ambience are right up his
street. I’ve seen the work described more than once, as
it is in the notes accompanying this CD, as a set of musical
picture postcards. Well, all I can say is that in Stokowski’s
hands we hear “Wish you were here?” writ large. In the
first of the three movements, ‘Rome – Palermo’ saturated
strings, agile winds, bright brass and a liberal dose of
percussion are all welded together quite splendidly by
the Maestro. The portrayal of Valencia with which the set
concludes is especially vibrant on this occasion, receiving
a really full-blooded performance. This performance of Escales shows
a virtuoso conductor at work and it’s very exciting to
hear.

Several
other pieces find Stokowski in more reflective mood. The
Sibelius Berceuse, arranged - and expanded - by
the conductor is lovingly done and if Stokowski wears his
heart on his sleeve here then all I can say is ‘why not’?
The other Sibelius offering is the famous Valse Triste,
which is given a misty performance. There’s a husky tone
quality in the string playing, which is no doubt deliberate.
Hearing the piece done like this is a powerful and appropriate
reminder that early Sibelius is not far removed from the
world of Tchaikovsky.

Rachmaninov’s Vocalise is
just meat and drink to Stokowski. He leads a performance
that is full of Slavic nostalgia. This performance, perhaps
more than any other on the disc, recalls Stokowski’s glory
days in Philadelphia, when Rachmaninov was one of many
composers that he championed. I echo Rob Barnett’s reference
to Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony. In fact it’s a matter
of huge regret to me that so far as I know there’s no Stokowski
recording of that symphony. This reading of Vocalise is
most evocative, string swoons and all.

Swooning
strings are also in evidence in Stokowski’s orchestration
of Clair de Lune. To be honest, this is just a bit
too OTT, not least in the use of the vibraphone. But even
here, the excess stems from affection for the music, one
feels.

I’ve
left till last what is, in many ways, the main attraction
of this CD. The notes relate that Stokowski first worked
with Percy Grainger in Philadelphia in 1916, when Grainger
played the Grieg Piano Concerto for Stokowski. The Maestro
also included in his programme a short piece by Grainger, Molly
on the Shore. In 1945 the pair were reunited for another
performance of the Grieg and once again Stoki played Molly during
the concert. Four years later Stokowski invited Grainger
to make new arrangements of a few of his pieces specifically
for a recording. The two musicians conferred and Stokowski
appears to have had quite a lot of input into both the
choice of pieces and their new orchestral scorings. What’s
remarkable about this story is that at the very time that
Grainger was engaged in these new arrangements Stokowski
was immersed in a huge enterprise, preparing Mahler’s Eighth
Symphony for performance with the New York Philharmonic
in April 1950; a superb achievement, by the way, which
has circulated in various off-air pressings over the years
and is now officially available in the NYPO’s boxed CD
set, The Mahler Broadcasts. It’s amazing that despite
the demands of preparing that vast Mahler symphony Stokowski
should have found time to take a close interest in Grainger’s
work on these miniatures. Perhaps it served as a valuable
and relaxing diversion.

Anyway,
the pieces were committed to disc, mainly in May 1950,
though a couple were set down in the following November.
Grainger attended the sessions and played the piano in
three of the pieces, most prominently in Handel in theStrand. Without
exception these performances, here appearing together on
CD for the first time, are marvellous. There’s a tremendous
earthly vigour in Country Gardens and an irrepressible joie
de vivre is imparted to Shepherd's Hey. On the
other side of the coin Stokowski brings to both Early
One Morning and Irish Tune fromCounty Derry (the ‘Londonderry
Air’) evident loving care and warmth. He clearly relishes
all these pieces and it’s no wonder that Grainger was delighted
with the results. These may be miniatures but Stokowski
pays them the compliment of treating them with as much
respect as he would an important symphony. This is just
as strong evidence of great conducting as anything on the
disc. All aficionados of Grainger’s music should acquire
these gems urgently.

Cala’s
presentation of these recordings is excellent. There are
interesting and eminently readable notes by Edward Johnson
and the transfers of what were clearly pretty good original
recordings have come up superbly. This is a hugely enjoyable
CD, which offers further evidence of what a great conductor
Leopold Stokowski was. They just don’t make ’em like that
any more! Enjoy!

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